Something to Think About
by Orrymain
Summary: Is a bundle of joy in Jack and Daniel's future?


Something to Think About  
  
Author: Orrymain  
  
Author Email: marciastudley@comcast.net (Feedback welcome)   
  
Category: Slash, Romance, Established Relationship   
  
Pairing: Jack/Daniel .... and it's all J/D   
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Season: 7 - Fall 2003  
  
Spoilers: None  
  
Size: 21kb, short story  
  
Written: September 8-9,11,16, October 9 2003  
  
Archive: Area52, Comfort Zone, FanFiction.Net, Cartouche, AlphaGate, TheBoy   
  
Disclaimer: Usual disclaimers -- not mine, wish they were, especially Daniel, and Jack, too, but they aren't. This was a whim; all in fun. I don't have anything to do with them legally!  
  
Summary: Is a bundle of joy in Jack and Daniel's future?  
  
Notes:   
  
1) This story was inspired by Sonneta who wrote "I feel a child in the near future" in her feedback for my story where Daniel proposes. Thanks, Sonneta! Who knew? I didn't until you encouraged me!  
  
2) Thanks to Tina for the early feedback, and to Brynn for the grammar beta!   
  
Something to Think About  
  
by Orrymain  
  
"Having a good time, Sir?"   
  
Jack turned to see his 2IC smiling happily, a Diet Coke in her hand. She had on tight fitting blue jeans and a simple white blouse with small yellow embroidered flowers around the collar.   
  
"Having a great time, Carter. Ferretti really knows how to throw a barbecue."  
  
"You mean he doesn't char the steaks into ash," Sam said smartly.  
  
"Carter, are you accusing me of not knowing how to cook a steak properly?"  
  
"Who me? No, Sir, definitely not ... Sir."  
  
A crying baby drew Jack and Sam's attention to the small patio near the house. It was six-month old Carli Janssen, Carolyn Ferretti's youngest sister's baby.   
  
Jack watched as the infant's mother appeared flustered. Without having a chance to adjust, Daniel was also flustered when the mother placed the baby in his surprised arms and ran into the house.   
  
Jack laughed at the horrified look on Daniel's face, but then the laughter turned to something very warm as Jack watched Daniel hold Carli with great care and gentleness. Daniel became increasingly more comfortable as he held the baby, and Jack saw Daniel talking to the infant.   
  
"Danny would make a great father," Jack said softly, almost a wisp of a statement.  
  
Sam nodded, "Yes, he would. He's very good with children. Oh, excuse me, Sir, there's Janet and Cassie."  
  
Jack acknowledged Sam's departure, but his eyes were glued on his lover, who was smiling as he bounced Carli gently in his arms. Daniel looked up for a moment and saw Jack staring, and the two exchanged a tender smile, sharing the event.  
  
Jack took a drink of his beer just as Carli's mom returned with a bottle of milk and took her precious child back into her arms, her eyes apologizing to Daniel for her quick exodus and also thanking him for taking such good care of her daughter.   
  
Carli had stopped crying and seemed quite content to "play" with this stranger who held her so warmly.  
  
====  
  
Jack, Lou Ferretti, General Hammond, Sgt. Siler and some others were busy exchanging old Air Force horror stories, trying to see who could outdo the other in the most outlandish or freakish mission they'd been involved in.  
  
Sam, Janet, Megan Williams, Carolyn, and several others were off in another corner discussing men and Sam's black widow curse. Of course, the ladies were pumping the beautiful blonde for information. Everyone knew Sam was seeing someone, but she was still keeping him under wraps, both figuratively and literally if her frequent blushing was any indication.  
  
Cassie was off with several of the teenagers talking boys and clothes, which was mostly all she ever talked about anyway.  
  
Jack's attention was diverted from the war stories when he heard a familiar laugh, one he wasn't used to hearing in places of mixed company. He surveyed the Ferretti's yard until he found the hearty laugh. Jack couldn't help but smile.  
  
Daniel was playing with a group of seven or eight children, ages six to ten, and he seemed to be the life of their party. They were running around, chasing each other. Jack assumed it was some kind of tag game. He laughed as one of the smaller boys tackled his lover, knocking him to the ground. Daniel was one of the fastest runners at the SGC when he put his mind to it, but at the hands of a child, he was apparently slow as molasses.  
  
Jack never heard any of the "tall tales" told over the next 15 minutes. He faked a nod or laugh when the others did, but his eyes were on Daniel romping happily with the small group of boys and girls. Jack never thought he could love Daniel any more than he already did, but watching him, he realized he had fallen even more in love with his soul mate.  
  
====  
  
Daniel sat relaxed on the sofa in the living room of the house he shared with Jack. He had on blue jeans, and an old brown tee shirt that had a little hole at the top of the left shoulder. He was reading an issue of "Oprah" Magazine.  
  
Jack came down the stairs and smiled.   
  
"Wow, you are so beautiful," Jack thought to himself as he watched Daniel for a moment from the bottom of the stairs.  
  
"Hey, whatcha doing?" Jack finally asked as he walked over and leaned down to kiss Daniel on the lips.  
  
"Reading 'Oprah'."  
  
Jack laughed as he laid down on the couch, his head resting on Daniel's lap.   
  
"Why on Earth are you reading that?"  
  
"Teal'c insisted. At least it's not another book of the month, but he wants to discuss Oprah's thoughts on ... whatever this stuff is," Daniel mused.  
  
"The things we do for a friend."   
  
Katie, their youngest beagle, picked that moment to jump up onto the sofa, settling on Jack's stomach. Jack laughed and began to stroke her fur gently, as Daniel continued to read, though now his right hand held the magazine while his left hand ran its fingers through Jack's silver gray hair. Daniel loved doing that, and did it almost automatically from the moment Jack had laid against him.  
  
"The barbecue was great, wasn't it?," Jack asked after a few minutes.  
  
"Yeah, had a great time. It was almost as good as one of Hammond's Fourth of July get togethers."  
  
A few more minutes passed.  
  
"I can't believe Teal'c finds this stuff so fascinating."  
  
"I can't believe you humor him by reading it."  
  
"Why not? I humor you all the time."  
  
"Yeah, but you love me," Jack grinned.  
  
"Technicality, Colonel," Daniel smiled leaning forward for a quick kiss.   
  
"Woof" Katie barked.  
  
"Uh oh. She's jealous," Jack laughed.  
  
Daniel read a few more articles, as Jack rested, petting Katie off and on as she slept on his stomach. It was a quiet time, and all three were very content to be where they were.  
  
"Those kids were cute."  
  
"Which kids?"  
  
"All of 'em, and you were ...," Jack's voice trailed off.  
  
"I was what?"  
  
"Beautiful. You laughed, Danny, a loud, beautiful laugh. I loved it, loved watching you play with those kids, and when you held that baby, geez, Danny, you took my breath away."  
  
Daniel blushed a little. "I ... just held her, Jack."  
  
"She stopped crying."  
  
"Lucky."  
  
"Nah, I think you have another conquest. I saw her little arms reaching for you for the rest of the barbecue."  
  
"Jack, she slept through the rest of the party; at least, most of it."  
  
"She loves you, Danny. Trust me on this."  
  
Daniel rolled his eyes and went back to reading the latest issue of "Oprah."  
  
====  
  
"Here you go, Girl," Jack said as he tossed a long rubber chew toy off towards the corner of the backyard. Bijou and Katie both went running after it, and then began to play tug-a-war with it as Jack watched and laughed.  
  
"Jack, we need a new washer for the hose, but I couldn't find any in the garage. Are we out?"  
  
"Oh crap. Sorry, Danny, I meant to get some last week at the hardware store but I forgot. I'll go by tomorrow."  
  
"S'kay, just thought I'd fix it while I had a minute."  
  
"All finished with Ms. Winfrey?"  
  
"Every last word," Daniel shook his head in relief to be finished.  
  
"It could be worse ... could be Martha Stewart Living or Redbook."  
  
"Jack, don't even think it, and DON'T even tease Teal'c about it!"  
  
"Wouldn't dream of it, Love," Jack smirked.  
  
"Jack, I mean it."  
  
"And whatcha gonna do if I do?"  
  
Daniel sauntered over to Jack and put his arms around his neck.   
  
"I'm going to tell him you read Vogue and Elle and are dying to discuss fashion with him."  
  
"You win, Danny."  
  
Daniel smirked, pushing away from Jack, "Thank you, Babe."   
  
Daniel sat down on the steps of the patio, and turned to say something, but hesitated as he noticed Jack was staring at him.  
  
"What, Jack?"  
  
Jack shook his head, "Nothing, Danny."  
  
"Jack, you've been ... I don't know. There's something going on in that head of yours. Why not tell me now and get it over with?"  
  
"Nah, just a ridiculous notion; could never work; just ... daydreaming."  
  
A ringing phone interrupted their conversation as Jack went inside to answer it.  
  
====  
  
Daniel climbed into their bed and snuggled up next to Jack. It had been a peaceful day, but this was the best part of it, the moments before going to sleep when they could hold each other close and whisper those silly sweet nothings that no one would ever believe two such strong independent men would say to each other.  
  
With his left hand playing with Jack's chest hairs, Daniel decided to go back to their earlier conversation.  
  
"Jack, tell me what you were thinking about earlier."  
  
"Nothing, Danny, just being ridiculous."  
  
"Jack, so help me, if you don't stop saying that and just tell me what you were thinking ..."  
  
"Danny, you ever ... no, we talked about this in Denver. It wouldn't work, couldn't work. I must be out of my friggin' mind to even have the thought. Nah, forget about it."  
  
Daniel looked up into Jack's eyes.   
  
"I thought we could talk about anything."  
  
"Ah, Danny, don't turn this into that. I swear on ... on my fishing pole ... that it's just a silly notion, like wishing on a star for ..."  
  
Jack laughed, "Dumb, very dumb almost analogy."  
  
Daniel kissed his lover.   
  
"Very dumb, considering you wished for me and got me. Tell me, Jack."  
  
"You'd make such a good father, Danny. Babies love you; children love you; teenagers love you; I love you."  
  
Daniel put his head back down on Jack's shoulder, but didn't say anything, not really sure where Jack was going with this train of thought. He remembered talking about children briefly in Denver the night he proposed to Jack, but neither were willing to, or even wanted to, give the other up in order to have a child with someone else.   
  
Jack had made Daniel promise to tell him if he ever had that strong desire to have a child, but the conversation hadn't gone much further than that, and frankly, Daniel was too nervous in anticipation of Jack's reaction to the proposal to even remember exactly what they had said to each other that night about the child issue.  
  
  
  
"Told you it was just a crazy notion."  
  
"Are you saying ... Jack, what are you saying?'  
  
"I don't know. Nothing. Let's go to sleep."  
  
They didn't talk any more, just said "I love you" and each pretended to close their eyes, but neither fell asleep for quite some time.  
  
====  
  
"Washers, as promised," Jack smiled as he returned from running a few errands. It was a warm Sunday for the Fall season, and he enjoyed being out for a while.   
  
"Good, now we can use the hose again without taking a shower," Daniel laughed taking a washer out of the bag and going outside.  
  
Jack headed for the study, an urge to check something on the Internet having gotten the best of his common sense. He entered his search criteria, and then clicked the URL that looked like it would answer his questions. He became so involved in his reading that he never heard Daniel enter and sneak up behind him, his hands wrapping around Jack's eyes, shielding them.  
  
"Hey, guess who?"  
  
"Little Bo Beep," Jack snapped.  
  
"I should hope not," Daniel chuckled, lowering his hands to go around Jack as he leaned forward over the chair, his hands unbuttoning the top buttons of Jack's tan shirt and then going underneath the polyester material to caress his lover's chest.  
  
"Danny, how many times do I have to tell you NOT to sneak up on me like that? Someday, I might kill you, and then I'd have to kill myself."  
  
Daniel ignored Jack, chuckling and kissing his nape before his eyes sneaked a peak at the computer monitor.  
  
"Adoption?," Daniel said with surprise.  
  
"Just ... forget it, Danny," Jack said has he started to close the web browser, but Daniel's hand shot out from underneath Jack's shirt and down to Jack's hand on the mouse and tugged at it.  
  
"No, Jack, wait. Are you saying you want to ... I mean, do you?"  
  
"I don't know what I mean."   
  
Jack turned the leather desk chair to the left as Daniel walked over to desk, leaning against it. Jack's hands reached out for Daniel's and they held on to each other, their touches slowly draining the uneasiness from their bodies.  
  
"Danny, I know what we've said in the past, but seeing you yesterday, something ... clicked, or jumped at me. You were so beautiful, and I found myself thinking about it. It's crazy. We couldn't even really think about it until after I retire, and I'm already ... old."  
  
"Jack, you know how I feel about that "old" garbage, so cut it out, now!"  
  
"Yes, Sir," Jack mocked lovingly, their hands still caressing each other's.  
  
"I didn't think I'd want to, Danny; didn't think I could even imagine going through the chance of loving and losing, but seeing you, it made me think maybe we could. Oh, for crying out loud, this is crazy."  
  
Jack started to pull his hands away from Daniel, but Daniel held on.  
  
"Jack, if we could, would you really want to?"  
  
Jack took a deep breath and looked into Daniel's blue eyes that mirrored his soul. Jack replied, "I think I'd like to think about it, talk about it. What about you, Danny? Seriously?"  
  
"I think I'd like to think about it and talk about it, too," Daniel smiled. "And, we could research it, which apparently you have already started doing," the younger man smiled and turned to face the computer monitor, releasing one of Jack's hand but still holding the other.  
  
"What does this say?"  
  
"Was just getting to the applicable part. First section was about couples adopting where one of the children was biological. The next section seems to address people like us."  
  
Daniel and Jack read the piece together and exchanged a look of hope. It wasn't out of the question. In fact, it was being done more and more.  
  
Jack stood up, and he and Daniel shared a kiss, their arms encircling the other's waist, their eyes locking after the kiss.  
  
"We're not even married yet, Danny."  
  
"Soon though. But we can't adopt until we quit the program. It's too dangerous, Jack."  
  
"I know, but that's going to happen.  
  
"One or two more years, and we'll be done."  
  
"It's something to think about, isn't it?"  
  
"And talk about."  
  
"The laws might even be better by then, but even if not, we can find a way."  
  
Daniel nodded, "It's still sad how that has to work, only one can adopt at a time. Doesn't seem fair. I mean how do we decide who does what when?"  
  
"Beagles."  
  
"What?"   
  
Daniel was totally confused. Jack could be a little thick sometimes, but this made no sense to the younger man.  
  
"We get two, his and ... his," Jack laughed, "just like the girls."  
  
"Good idea."  
  
"It happens. Boys? Girls?"  
  
"One of each?"  
  
"We have all the time in the world to think about this, decide if it's really something we want."  
  
"Yeah, it would be a drastic change. Life would never be the same."  
  
"Freedom gets shot to pieces, Love. Diapers, Little League, Report Cards, Parent-Teacher Conferences, and, have I mentioned loss of privacy," Jack mentioned with a low voice, his lips locking with Daniel's, and his tongue slipping inside his lover's mouth, causing Daniel to moan from the sensation.  
  
"That's what door locks are for, Jack," Daniel responded softly, still reeling from their kiss.  
  
"Can't lock out the kids. They'll set the house on fire, or pin Katie's tail to the coffee table, or eat the fish."  
  
"Jack!"  
  
"Sorry, Danny, I've been there. They are a handful, and they do change how you live. We have a lot of freedoms that we'd lose if we do this. Lots of sacrifices, so we have to be sure."  
  
"Pros and cons. We can make a list, itemize, rank, lay out the possible scenarios for our future."  
  
"There's a thousand and one cons, Danny, and some of them," Jack sighed, a dark memory surfacing, "some of them aren't pleasant."  
  
"But there's one great big pro, isn't there, Jack?"  
  
"Yeah, there is."  
  
"Is it big enough?"  
  
"I never thought I could even think about this seriously again, Danny. Charlie, that was ... but the love, Danny, how can I deny that? It stays inside us forever."  
  
"Love you so much, Jack."  
  
"So we think about it, and see where we are in a couple of years."  
  
"We think about it, and we talk about it."  
  
The two kissed for a few minutes, reveling in their love and a conversation neither ever envisioned happening with the other. Each wondered who was more surprised -- the other or themselves. Then they headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner, when Jack laughed.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Maybe we should stick with boys."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Danny, if we adopt daughters, YOU are explaining the facts of life to them including THAT time of the month."  
  
"Jack!"  
  
They laughed and as Jack opened the cupboards to get some canned vegetables, Daniel chuckled, "Definitely boys."  
  
"Told you."  
  
"No, that's not it."  
  
"Why then?"  
  
"Jack, you'd murder anyone who tried to date our daughters. I can see you now on the front porch with your P90 daring some guy to kiss them."  
  
"Kiss? Oh no, no male contact for our girls until they are at least 30."  
  
"They'd hate you."  
  
"They'd ... adjust."  
  
Daniel worked on preparing a salad and was tossing the lettuce and adding more ingredients when he got a rather perplexed look on his face.  
  
"What are you thinking about with that scrunched up nose of yours?," Jack asked as he put the casserole in the oven.  
  
"Scrunched?"  
  
"Just answer the question."  
  
"What would they call us?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"No mom here. Two dads. Dad and Dad would get confusing. Maybe it's not fair to them."  
  
"Danny, the most important factor is love. What they call us is probably the least of our concerns."  
  
"Okay, Mom!"  
  
"Daniel!"  
  
"Got it ... different names."  
  
"They aren't calling us Jack and Daniel."  
  
"No, of course not. Never have liked that, but one of us can be Dad or Daddy or Pa or Pop or Father ... or ... something, and the other one of us will be a different name like that."  
  
"Wow, Jack, when you want to, you can be a genius."  
  
"Coming from a genius like yourself, I take that as a compliment," Jack said as he approached his lover at the counter, leaning over and kissing him.  
  
"We'd need more room."  
  
"We can build on. We've got lots of room. We need to do something about your artifacts, though, to keep them safe. Trust me, Danny, a toddler would do in your collection in about an hour."  
  
"We'll think of something, Jack."  
  
Daniel got up to put the salad into the refrigerator until the casserole was done, and Jack had started to head towards the sofa to watch a bit of ESPN, but both stopped and looked at the other, smiles slowly forming on their faces.   
  
Daniel lowered his eyes for a moment, and closed the refrigerator door, and then met Jack's gaze again.  
  
Jack walked over to him and kissed him, and then leaned his forehead against Daniel's, a gesture they had done from their very first night together that symbolized their unity and spirit that made them one soul.  
  
"We're crazy, you know that?"  
  
"I know we're crazy in love. Maybe we are crazy, Jack ... crazy to want it all, but is it wrong?"  
  
'No, Angel, it's not."  
  
"Are you sure? Do you know what we'd be letting our children in for?"  
  
"A lifetime of love, Danny, from their parents who will love them so darn much that nothing else will matter. C'mon, let's let it settle for a while and watch some hockey or something. We have lots of time to think about this and make a decision."  
  
Jack lead Daniel to the sofa and they sat down, Jack's left arm around Daniel's shoulders, but instead of hockey, they watched some show on Egyptian pyramids. Jack didn't mind. It made his lover happy to rant about how misguided the experts were who spoke about the building of the tall structures, and as long as Daniel was happy, then so was Jack.  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"Yes, Angel?"  
  
"We already decided, didn't we?"  
  
Jack kissed Daniel's silky hair, and softly, "You're going to be the best Dad in the universe, Danny."  
  
"Second best. Love you."  
  
"Love you, too."  
  
  
  
~~Finis - Finished - Done - The End - But is it ever Really?~~ 


End file.
